Maria L Sheakley, PhD

Dr. Maria Sheakley is Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor of Physiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed). Dr. Sheakley received her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Akron and her doctorate degree in biomedical sciences from Kent State University, where she studied signaling cascades related to vascular proliferative diseases.

As a founding faculty member at WMed, Dr. Sheakley helped to design, build, and implement the TBL-centered integrated organ-system curriculum. She currently teaches physiology lectures in the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal system courses in the preclinical curriculum. Dr. Sheakley has received numerous awards from students for teaching at WMed and her previous teaching institutions and has been recognized for overall excellence in medical education.

Throughout her career, Dr. Sheakley has been active in medical education with a particular interest in high-fidelity simulation and Team-Based Learning (TBL). She has published scholarly work in medical education largely focused in these two areas and continues to study the impacts of active learning in medical education. In addition, Dr. Sheakley is passionate about the development and advancement of medical educators and has published and presented in this field nationally and internationally.

In addition to her roles at WMed, Dr. Sheakley is an active member of the Team-Based Learning Collaborative (TBLC), where she earned certification as a Trainer-Consultant for TBL in 2016 and chaired the national TBLC meeting in 2017. She has led numerous TBL faculty development workshops at WMed and other medical schools since 2016. In addition, Dr. Sheakley is active in the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) where she serves as a member of the Board of Directors, a member of the Committee for the Advancement of Medical Science Educators (CAMSE - a subcommittee of the Professional Development Committee), a member of the Finance Committee, and Chair of the 2022 Annual Program Committee

Sheakley M, Bauler T, Vandre D, Woodwyk A, Dickinson B. Effectiveness of Instructor-Guided Independent Learning in Comparison to Traditional Didactic Lecture in the Preclinical Medical Curriculum: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Med Teach 2019 Mar;41(7):795-801. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2019.1580355.

Lammers R, Sheakley M, Hendren S. A Simulated Case of Acute Salicylate Toxicity from an Intentional Overdose. MedEdPORTAL Publications, Accepted Jan 2018.

Bonny L. Dickinson, Wendy Lackey, Maria Sheakley, Lisa Miller, Susan Jevert. Involving a real patient in the design and implementation of case-based learning to engage learners. Adv Physiol Educ., 42: 118-122; Jan 2018.

Bonny L. Dickinson, Nicole Deming, Kathryn N. Huggett, Lisa Coplit, Maria Sheakley, Kelly Quesnelle, Stephanie Wragg, and Gary Rosenfeld. IAMSE Member Perspectives on the Recognition, Reward, and Promotion of Medical Science Educators: An IAMSE Sponsored Survey. Med. Sci. Educ., (Jan 2018).

Lammers R, Pazderka P, Sheakley M. A multipatient simulation session: evaluation of six simulated patients with different shock syndromes. MedEdPORTAL Publications, 2017;13:10591. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10591

Keator CS, Dickinson BL, Lackey WL, Morris AM, Quesnelle KM, Riddle DR, Sheakley MS, Vanden Heuvel GB, Vandre DD. Self-directed learning for the Millennial student in a competency-based curriculum: A modern approach from a new medical school. Med. Sci. Edu., (2016). DOI: 10.1007/s40670-016-0293-0.

Sheakley M, Gilbert G, Leighton K, Hall M, Callender D, Pederson D. A Brief Simulation Intervention Increasing Basic Science and Clinical Knowledge. Med Educ Online, Apr 2016, 21: 30744 -http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v21.30744

Hall M, Sheakley M, Callender D, Pederson D, Gilbert G, Leighton K. Enhancing Knowledge Retention of Cardiovascular Physiology using Simulation. Med. Sci. Edu., (2016) 26(1):111-116. DOI 10.1007/s40670-015-0216-5

Sheakley M, Lammers R, Hoyle Jr. J. Organophosphate Poisoning Simulation. MedEdPORTAL Publications; May 2015. Available from: https://www.mededportal.org/publication/10090